Little Book of Big Dreams: Jean Fan '09 creates a cuSTEMized book for girls

How did you come up with the idea to make a book? Was a personalized book the idea from the beginning?

From my own experiences, I had a very hard time during my senior year of college. I decided to take a graduate level course on machine learning and was one of a handful of girls. The professor was also female, which in theory would be encouraging. But I often found myself doubting my own abilities and telling myself that I was not good enough to be in STEM because I wasn’t like her: I wasn’t outgoing enough, I didn’t think this material was as easy as she claimed it was, I wasn’t this or I wasn't that. I thought that maybe STEM was for girls, but only some exceptional girls, and I wasn’t one of them. But then I realized: screw that, STEM is for everyone and anyone interested in pursuing it.

I wanted to give girls a personalized message that YOU and specifically YOU can pursue STEM. A personalized book seemed like a great medium to communicate that message.

There are already other personalized books for kids in the market. But when I was doing my market research, I noticed that all the personalized books for girls were about ‘My Own Princess Fairy Tale Adventure’ or something while the personalized books for boys were much more career oriented. A personalized STEM career book for girls was lacking, so I wanted to address that lack by creating the Little Book of Big Dreams.

Why did you decide to use Kickstarter? Why do you think you were so successful at raising money?

Kickstarter is one of many crowd-source fundraising platforms. I chose Kickstarter in part because it is one of the biggest/better known/trusted platforms. There is also a specific category dedicated to children’s books. Unlike other fundraising platforms, Kickstarter requires a product at the end, which is what we were intending on producing. So it seemed like a reasonable fit.

Our ability to reach and surpass our goal amount I think in part can be attributed to networking. Many of the donors are Blair teachers and Harvard professors. But more importantly, I think there is a need for a product like this that is currently not available in the mass market. And many parents donated because they wanted to get a book for their daughters.

How did you decide on the structure of the book? How did you choose which professions to highlight?

I wanted the book to be a bed time story that a girl could read to herself with the help of her parents. I think it’s very empowering to repeatedly say your name and how you can do something; it’s like a pep talk. I wanted to highlight subjects that young girls may already be familiar with through school such as chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematics and just expand on why these subjects make cool professions. Of course, as a computer scientist, I wanted to highlight computer science. A lot of parents I spoke to about STEM careers seem to believe that a STEM career involves only working in a university or government facility at a bench with pipettes or a chalkboard, so I wanted to highlight a few other careers like engineering, agronomy, and meteorology that are more field and industry-oriented. Of course, to highlight the translational aspects of STEM, I wanted to include doctors and veterinarians.

Is there a story behind the raincloud and rainbow pages about facing and overcoming challenges? Why did you include those pages at the end?

I think it’s important to explain to all kids, not necessarily just girls who are interested in pursuing STEM, that it can be difficult! Experiments will fail! Things won’t work out! But that doesn’t mean you’re stupid. That just means you're trying to do something really hard and worthwhile. It’s important to emphasize the need for perseverance in anticipation of these inevitable failures and challenges. I hope that the story will help girls understand that even if things are rough and tough and even if they stumble and fumble, it’s okay. Take a deep breath, step back, and when you’re ready, try again. And you will make it through. (I still have to tell myself that some times in graduate school!)